The WTO Appellate Body is gone, but WTO dispute settlement
remains a viable mechanism for resolving trade irritants
On December 11, 2019, the United States succeeded in forcing the
WTO Appellate Body to cease operations, citing concerns of
overreach in its rulings and the regular flouting of procedural
rules set by WTO Members. This led to several media reports and
tweets proclaiming the end of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism,
and even of the WTO itself because, it was claimed, its rules can
no longer be enforced. Neither claim is in fact true.
There is no doubt that the dispute settlement system has been
compromised. The shutting down of the WTO Appellate Body represents
a significant loss to the system and, while the Appellate Body will
almost certainly be replaced in time, the new version of appellate
review will be different.
